This invention relates generally to fishing lures and more particularly to fishing lures arranged to hold a dead bait fish during fishing operations for attracting fish to be caught.
As is well understood by those involved in the sport fishing art, a key to success in catching fish, irrespective of the type of fishing being conducted, is the ability to attract a target fish to the proximity of the fishhook and induce the fish into biting and impaling itself on the fishhook attached to the line of the fishing pole. The fishing lure art in this regard is voluminous and replete with lures of every description arranged for the purpose of attracting the attention of fish to be caught. In most cases, lures are designed to attract the attention of fish through distinctive shapes and bright coloration, etc. usually in combination with the provision of natural and artificial bait materials, etc. placed on a fishing hook.
In this, as is also well known in the art, since many if not most types of game fish are instinctively predatory in nature and feed on smaller fish that they come across, a variety of bait fish-holding type lures have been provided heretofore that are specifically arranged to secure a substantially whole bait fish to the end of a fishing line for the impaling of a larger, target fish on a fishhook associated with the lure when the target fish strikes at the bait fish. Such lures are used in trolling, plunking, casting, stream and river current fishing, and other types of fishing in which there is a constant relative movement of the lure and surrounding water, either by the dragging of the lure through the water by trolling from a boat or through the use of the reel mechanism associated with a fishing pole, or by current movement of the water passing the lure as in stream and river current situations. It is these types of bait fish-holding lures and types of fishing to which the present invention relates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,232 to Horton, et al. discloses a bait fish-holding fishing lure believed to illustrate the closest prior art bearing upon the present invention. In this, Horton provides a fishing lure having a hollow head cap end arranged to receive the head portion of a selected bait fish, the lure including a downwardly angled impaling rod fixedly secured to and projecting rearwardly from the hollow head cap. A tie line eyelet and hook line eyelet is fixedly embedded in the head cap for connection to a fish line and hook line respectively. A spoonbill type foil member is secured on the forward end portion of the head cap in order to specifically induce a wobbling movement of the lure through the water while retaining the lure and bait fish in an upright condition as is typical as spoonbill or foil-type lures in operation. This arrangement is disclosed to provide a substantially upright, wobbling movement of the bait fish lure during operation.
Another bait fish lure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,552 to Hawkins which utilizes a specially-configured spoonbill foil structure protruding forwardly of the lure body arranged to replicate a natural swimming motion in operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,658,785 to Faulkner, et al. provides a bait fish-holding lure construction having side fin members arranged to create a stable and upright orientation of the bait fish with a lateral, side-to-side motion through the water during fishing operations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,023 to Ryder, et al. also teaches a bait fish-holding type lure arranged to orient the bait fish in upright condition and deflect water during operation to create a lateral motion of the lure through the water, by provision of a bill structure protruding forwardly of the head cap member of the lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,467,971 to Frair also teaches a bait fish-holding type lure having a body arranged to substantially encase and hold a fish so as to leave only the tail portion exposed, the body of the lure utilizing a pivotally mounted fin member arranged to oscillate back and forth in a swimming motion and cause the body of the lure to oscillate as it is drawn through the water and thereby tend to simulate a swimming motion to attract predator fish during operation.
From the foregoing it can therefore be seen that many various different constructions and structural arrangements have been provided heretofore to produce bait fish-holding type lures that provide different, selected intended movements when drawn through the water in order to attract predator target fish to strike.